33 people have died in some of the bloodiest Israeli strikes in Gaza since the ceasefire began.

On Thursday, a Palestinian family in Gaza grieved the loss of a father and his three children, while officials at Nasser Hospital announced that they had received the remains of 17 victims of an Israeli strike that occurred overnight.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza — Five individuals were killed by Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis early on Thursday, according to medical officials. This brings the total number of fatalities from airstrikes in the Palestinian territory over a roughly 12-hour period to 33, the majority of whom were women and children. Since a truce mediated by the United States went into force on October 10, the strikes have been among the bloodiest.

Following Israel's announcement that its forces had been fired upon in Khan Younis on Wednesday, there was further escalation. Israel said that the military retaliated with strikes and that no troops were killed.

Officials at Nasser Hospital reported that 17 individuals, including five women and five children, were killed in four Israeli attacks on tents housing displaced families in Khan Younis late Wednesday and early Thursday.

According to officials at the Al-Shifa hospital in the northern section of Gaza City, where the victims were transported, two airstrikes on a building in the city killed sixteen people, including three women and seven children.

The Israeli strikes were denounced as a "shocking massacre" by the Palestinian organization Hamas. Hamas denied firing at Israeli troops in a statement.

Palestinians grieve for their loved ones

Many people gathered at Nasser Hospital to give funeral prayers for the victims of the Israeli bombings. Over the bodies of loved ones covered in white funeral shrouds, women sobbed in grief.

In a blow that struck their tent on Wednesday, Abir Abu Moustapha lost her husband and her three children, ages 1, 11, and 12. As their bodies were being readied for burial, she knelt next to them.

"My kids have left." What am I able to say? And my most beloved, my hubby. "May God show them mercy," Abu Moustapha murmured. "Why did my kids have to die? Why did they pass away in front of me?

Two Hamas leaders, one in control of the group's naval branch and the other in charge of tunnels in certain areas of Khan Younis, were the targets of the Israeli military's strikes.